With a smartphone, what can’t you do. Among the 100s of features available with smartphones, a voice recorder is one of them. So why do you need a standalone audio recorder? Roland, makers of music gear, has an answer for you.
The company’s Roland R-07 voice recorder is about as big as an original iPod and is designed for music recording, practice and playback. It features two microphones on top as well as an auxiliary microphone input, Bluetooth support and a headphone jack.
When recording, the R-07 is as simple as a one-touch marvel. You record by turning it on and pressing the center button. It records to MicroSD card and can create up to 96 kHz 24-bit WAVs and 320 kbps MP3s. Power-wise, a USB cable will do the trick. Alternatively, you can use two AA batteries.
A Scene mode makes the R-07 even more useful. It has built-in limiters and low cut, features which will make voices crisper. Additionally, you can set it to “Music Long” to record longer performances while using storage.
In rehearsal mode, you can hear live audio through audio playback, a great feature for budding musicians. You can also control up to four devices at once via Bluetooth, allowing you to mic several people.
The R-07 runs $199 and is available now. While it doesn’t beat a big recorder with dual mics and XLR inputs, in terms of portability, sound quality and intuitive featues, the R-07 is hard to beat.
